Book Recommendation ~ Unnoticed by Amanda Deed

Book Description:

Plain Jane O’Reilly is good at being unnoticed. Detested by her stepmother and teased by her stepsisters, Jane has learned the art of avoiding attention. That is until Price Moreland, an American with big dreams, arrives in her small town.

Does she dare to hope someone might notice her?

However, Price Moreland may not be the prince that the whole town thinks him to be. Was his desire to be a missionary a God-given call, or just a good excuse to run from his past?

Complete with an evil stepmother, a missing shoe and a grand ball, Unnoticed takes the time-old Cinderella fairy tale and gives it an Australian twist.

Narelle's Thoughts:

I'm a fan of the Cinderella romance trope and enjoyed reading Unnoticed. The story is set in the 1870's in Hay, a small Australian town in the western Riverina region of NSW.

Jane O'Reilly is your classic Cinderella heroine. She lost her beloved mother when she was young and her father remarried a woman with two daughters. Jane's stepmother has no qualms about treating Jane as if she is a second class citizen and her personal slave. Jane's father seems to turn a blind eye to his wife's blatant favouritism of her own daughters over Jane.

Jane has very low self esteem that's reinforced by the horrible treatment she receives from her stepmother and stepsisters. Her Aunt Ruby, who is their cook and her stepmother's sister, is one of the few people who treats Jane with respect and dignity.

Forced by her stepmother to dress in old and ugly clothing, the townsfolk of Hay call her 'Plain Jane' and treat her as if she's the town joke. Jane believes she's ugly and feels powerless to change her life circumstances.

Price Moreland is an American who recently moved to Hay. He sets up a Barber and Dental Surgery in town but his main goal is to share the gospel with the unchurched townsfolk in Hay. He has a complicated relationship with his wealthy rancher father and is troubled by his experiences of living in the south during the American Civil War.

Price meets Jane when she turns up at his dental surgery with an infected tooth. He's the prince charming who is intrigued by Jane and sees both her inner and outer beauty. Jane struggles to believe she can be worthy of Price. They become friends and a sweet romance develops between them as they overcome many obstacles in the story.

Their spiritual journeys are explored and the faith element in the story is both overt and compelling. Price and Jane are challenged on a spiritual level and draw on Biblical truths to resolve their faith issues.

The story addresses social issues of inequality and racism in both Australia and the USA. My husband has Chinese ancestors who migrated to Australia during the 1850's Gold Rush and lived in the Riverina region of NSW. My personal connection to the setting added to my interest in the social class dynamics in the story.

I recommend Unnoticed to readers who like historical Christian romances set in Australia.

Learn more about Amanda Deed and her books here.

A fun loving Aussie girl at heart, NARELLE ATKINS was born and raised on the beautiful northern beaches in Sydney, Australia. She has settled in Canberra with her husband and children. A lifelong romance reader, she found the perfect genre to write when she discovered inspirational romance. Narelle's contemporary stories of faith and romance are set in Australia.

Website: http://www.narelleatkins.com

Blog: http://narelleatkins.wordpress.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NarelleAtkinsAuthor

Twitter: @NarelleAtkins https://twitter.com/NarelleAtkins

SCATTERPLOTS

Where have all my stories gone ?

I admit I just coined that word because that’s what is going through my head nowadays. Is it just me or is it some sort of reaction to editing over and over ad nauseam?

It is ridiculous how many ideas for plots are flitting through my overloaded brain. And I end up discarding every single one of them.  Just when I think I’ve got the one…it peters out. Is this brain drain?

I should be writing a helpful post, but thought I’d share this to see if any other authors have had this happen to them. I have written six full length historical romances – four published with two looking for a home - but I thought I had more to give. I’d hate to think I have dried up.

Is it because nice people ask when is your next book coming out? And I can’t begin to explain what’s going on with me. (And as you seasoned authors know, it’s not always a writer who has any control over that.) Maybe I shouldn’t even be confessing to this as it probably sounds very unprofessional. Still, I’d sure love to get some input from you dear folk, readers or writers, feeling as if I am marking time right now.

I have begun stories and then quit, usually because I don’t like my characters. And you have to like them to stick with them all the way through the novel, don’t you? Unless you’re writing about a spoiled character like Scarlett O’Hara from Gone With the Wind. Now is that a germ of an idea? Would you enjoy reading about someone you couldn’t stand…waiting for her to get her “comeuppance”? I’m not sure whether a publisher would.

Sorry for going on so, but I had to get this out of my system.

Any advice, ideas, or commiseration appreciated….

 

Rita Stella Galieh does enjoy her Etiquette of the Victorian Era fun presentations where she plays the part of a governess lecturing her audience on the proprieties of upper class society. Someone said her acquired accent sounds like the "queen on steroids"! 

This is a nice platform to share the customs of the era and it gives a background to her characters and their struggles in that time.

Her husband,  also dressed for the period, gives violin renditions. However he is glad when she leaves that peronality behind and reverts to her true self again!

See www.ritastellapress.com for information on her books and weekly blog.

Setting Goals; Setting Prices

One of the hardest decisions in publishing one’s own book is setting the price. Universal wisdom on the subject is anything but universal: “Don’t set it too low,” “Don’t set it too high,” “Undervaluing your work means it will be ignored.” “Give away as many as you can to get readers hooked.” “Start the series free, then charge for the rest.”

Right. It’s all good advice, if a little vague—what is too low or too high? And different projects and different circumstances demand different pricing. When I began work on my long-held goal to bring 

my six-book series The Cambridge Chronicles on the work of the 18^th and 19^th century Evangelical Anglicans out in ebook I decided I would make the first book in the series permanently free. I hoped readers would be sufficiently hooked that I could then charge perhaps as much as $4.99 for the succeeding books.

I also decided to re-package the whole series to emphasize the romance element of the stories, rather than focusing mainly on the history. I renamed the series Where There is Love, and gave each story a Where Love. . . title. Ken Raney designed gorgeous, romantic covers for me. I duly uploaded book 1 Where Love Begins, making it free on Smashwords and Nook. Then I hit my first snag. Amazon doesn’t allow such charitable views. Still, .99 wasn’t bad, I figured.

I was surprised. First, I was over-whelmed by the number of Smashwords downloads (1020 currently) and disappointed by the nearly nil Amazon sales. The pattern has followed with the release of the next two books in the series. I can safely assume it will be true for the next three to follow.

This made me re-think my goals. Why am I doing this? The answer was easy— if nothing else about this project has been easy. I am passionate about these stories. I want readers to know what these men and women of faith endured to build the Kingdom. I pray daily that readers will be inspired by these stories in a way that will renew their own faith and help bring revival to our own day.

With that ambition in mind I realized that holding out for more remuneration paled in comparison. Besides, these books didn’t owe me anything. They had been published by Victor Books, and republished by Crossway; released in large print, and an omnibus edition; extracts had been printed as short stories in a magazine and in an anthology. I was indebted to them, rather than the reverse.

With that realization I have been freed to make the decision make the entire series free on Smashwords and Nook and the minimal .99 on Amazon. Not every project will allow that freedom. Many books require extensive research which has not yet paid back. Some books need to reach an audience that will believe a book they paid for has more value. And, of course, only in an indie publishing project is the writer allowed a say in the pricing.

Still, in this aspect in the crazy publishing world, as in all other areas of our endeavors, clarifying our goals for each book and keeping those goals foremost can help in making tough decisions.

What are your goals for your current project?

Donna Fletcher Crow is the author of 50 novels of history, mystery and romance featuring British Christian history. You can learn more about all her books, see pictures of her research trips and garden on her website and follow her on Facebook.

Manuscript Matchmakers

Because I know we have both readers and writers who follow this post, I wanted to share a huge opportunities for historical writers interested in breaking into Love Inspired Historicals! I've been writing for Love Inspired Suspense for a number of years now and really love working for them. For even more information, you can visit their forums here. So here is the information, straight from the editors!










Manuscript Matchmakers: Meet the perfect editor match for your inspirational historical romance manuscript

The Love Inspired editors are thrilled to announce our newest pitch opportunity, Manuscript Matchmakers (#ManuscriptMatch). We want to fall in love with some amazing inspirational historical romance novels. If you think your book holds the key to our hearts, we encourage you to pitch it to the Manuscript Matchmakers.

Over the years, Love Inspired has bought more than 30 authors through pitch contests. Last year, we found 9 new authors in our From Blurb to Book pitch, many of whom wrote their books during the contest. Four of their books will be on store shelves in 2016. This year, we’ve got times gone by on our mind. We want to find new historical romance authors to join our team. For this pitch opportunity, Love Inspired editors Tina James, Melissa Endlich, Emily Rodmell, Elizabeth Mazer, Shana Asaro, Giselle Regus and Dina Davis are looking for Inspirational Historical Romance stories of 70-75K words with great hooks. And to help you find those great hooks, we’ve outlined the ones we’re most looking for. We’d like to see stories that focus on one or more of seven hooks. The editors will be dividing ourselves into teams based on these tropes and mentoring authors as you write your books.

1. Team Amish
2. Team Mail Order Bride
3. Team Babies/Children
4. Team Cowboy/Rancher
5. Team Marriage of Convenience
6. Team Reunion Romance
7. Team Choose Your Own Hook (i.e. any other strong hook)
8. Bonus Category: Pony Express Fast Track. If you have a complete manuscript ready to go and don’t want to have to wait through the pitch deadlines to get it seen, submit your manuscript to our Pony Express Fast Track Category. Any full manuscripts submitted to the Pony Express Fast Track category by the initial submission deadline of March 2 will be guaranteed that an editor will look at your full manuscript and respond by May 2. You can submit any trope to this category.

But whether you have a full manuscript ready or just an idea, we want to meet you. If you think you are the perfect match for Love Inspired Historical, we invite you to show us that you’re the total package in these three stages:

1. Proper Introductions—Tell us a little bit about you and your manuscript by filling out a matchmaking profile card and painting a picture of your book by sending in the first page. (Pony Express Fast Track entrants send a Matchmaking Card and full manuscript at this stage.)

Matchmaking Profile Card
Targeted Team: Amish, Mail Order Bride, Pony Express Fast Track, etc.
Name:
Book title:
Setting and time period:
Hooks:
Conflict:
Describe your book in 1 sentence:

Authors who catch our eye will move on to Stage 2.

2. Courtship—Show us you have the plotting and writing skills to back up your profile by submitting a full proposal (synopsis and three chapters). Authors who show us their amazing plots, conflicts and writing will move on to Stage 3.

3. Betrothal—We’ve met the beginnings of your manuscript and like what we see so far. Convince us to make a commitment by submitting your full manuscript. The sky’s the limit for these authors. A contract could be within your reach if you bring it all together into a manuscript that we think our readers will love.

If you make it through, you could be the next contracted author for Love Inspired Historical. But we won’t leave you to do it all on your own. We’ll be sharing helpful master class blog posts along the way telling you exactly what is required in a Love Inspired Historical book. And once we decide who will be getting a proposal request, authors will be divided into seven teams based around the seven tropes we’ve listed (Pony Express manuscripts will be divided between editors and read separately). Each team will have an editor mentor depending on the number of submissions and finalists for each line. Mentors will be announced on the day that the teams are announced. So you’ll know exactly who is looking at your book throughout the stages, and you can ask questions directed at your mentor in the announcement thread. But don’t wait to get to know your fellow contestants. Feel free to start mixing and mingling in any open Manuscript Matchmakers thread or via the #ManuscriptMatch hashtag on Twitter. Every author who makes it to stage 3 will receive an initial decision (contract, reject or revision request) on their submissions by August 31.

Here’s our timeline:

ROUND ONE
February 22 – Submit the completed Matchmaking Profile and first page of your inspirational historical romance manuscript (or full for Pony Express) to ManuscriptMatchmakers@harpercollins.com starting today.
**Please read Formatting Guidelines before submitting**

March 2 – All entries must be in house. The editors will review the entries over the next week and choose the teams.

ROUND TWO
March 9 – Editors will announce which entries will be joining a team and which editors will be mentoring each team. The authors on the teams will be invited to submit their proposal by April 6 to the email box.
April 6 – All proposals must be in house. Editors will review the submissions from their team over the next week and a half and narrow down the ones that seem most promising to move on to the next stage.

ROUND THREE
April 18 – Editors will announce which team members will be going on to the final round. Qualifying authors will be invited to submit their complete manuscript. Authors who are not moving on will privately receive personalized feedback. Authors who are moving on will have until July 15 to submit their full manuscripts.
July 15 – All entries must be in house. Editors will review the submissions from their team and decide next steps (reject, request a revision, or offer a contract). By the end of a month and a half, decisions will be made to contract, send a revision letter or reject each of the stories. All authors who submit full manuscripts will receive notification of our decision within this time frame.

Final Results!

August 31 – We will announce the results in a blog post that wraps up the pitch, shares our thoughts on the highs and lows, highlights any sales and gives stats on the results for the full manuscript submissions.

Sound exciting? If you think you could rock this pitch, get ready to show us your stuff. Read our team bios, the info on formatting guidelines, the inspirational success stories and the blogs on what LIH is looking for, writing a standout first page, and examples of how to fill out the matchmaking card, then start those books. Be sure to follow the guidelines for Love Inspired Historical. Only one entry per author, please. If your book fits in more than one category, feel free to list more than one. We will randomly place entries with multiple hooks into one category based on number of entries. Deadlines are tight, so keep writing while you’re waiting to hear back. And if your book is complete now, don’t miss the fabulous Pony Express Fast Track opportunity.

Best wishes,
Tina, Melissa, Emily, Elizabeth, Shana, Giselle & Dina    

I'd love to know if you're considering submitting so we could encourage you!!

Lisa Harris

Swooning...romantic? Not!

I confess as a teen, I grew up on hand-me-down penny-dreadfuls. And another confession, I loved it when the heroine swooned. How romantic, especially if the right man was there to catch her.

But you know something?

Phial of smelling salts. photo Rita Gerlach

I could never swoon. Couldn't even faint. Oh, I wanted to so badly. Not one measly time could I even try to force myself to delicately crumple.

Mind you, when I saw my mother faint one day, I sort of retracted that desire. Poor mum just keeled over without warning and landed with a thump. I found out later she was expecting.

Hmm, being pregnant was something I wasn't ready for at that stage. So I figured I'd have to leave it to all those fragile heroines to deliver the romantic swooning stuff.

Seriously though, I'm sure the tight corsets had a great deal to to with it. The way their undergarments pulled in their waists and then were tightly laced, they could hardly get a deep breath. And imagine that in sweltering hot weather! No wonder the poor gals keeled over. So instead of loosening their nipped in torture garments, they carried their own personal phials of smelling salts. Who wouldn't be shocked back to their senses when those ammonium carbonate salts were waved under their noses?

He was an aristocrat. She was in service. Will they dare cross this invisible line?

Windsor Castle, mid 1800s.
Separated by the class barrier, handsome aristocrat, Nicholas Forbes-Mannering and kitchen apprentice, Charmian Kintrairy can't ignore their mutual attraction. But conventions are strong, and as their love grows, they struggle to find equal footing.

When she discovers her mysterious family history, she is convinced their differences are insurmountable. Can she use her culinary skills to make a new life in a new land?

Only a tragic event causes their paths to cross again.... 
Will Charmian find the courage to hold fast to her faith and face the ghosts of her past? 

* Book III of the Victoriana Series, A Parcel of Promises, is at the printers as this goes online. But sadly, this heroine never got to swoon! She was too busy in Windsor Castle's kitchens. But she has shared her scrumptious recipe of a genuine boiled rag pudding for the Christmas table.

See:  www.ritastellapress.com for updates.

The Consummate Traitor: A Long Journey With a Purpose, by Bonnie Toews

The idea for my novel THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR began when I read the biography of William Stephenson – INTREPID, CHURCHILL’S MASTER SPY – by the Canadian author William Stevenson. In it, he wrote about an agent code-named Trudi, who was a cousin of King George VI. She volunteered to persuade the atomic physicist Niels Bohr, who was working on atomic bomb experiments in Copenhagen, to defect to London. The Danish Resistance did succeed in helping him escape to England but “Trudi” was arrested by the Gestapo, interrogated and tortured. No one knows what happened to her. She was declared missing in action and presumed dead. Reading this, I wondered. “What if she survived? What would her story be?” The only possibility was to create another woman to replace her on the mission.

First, I needed to create a believable royal lineage and hope I didn’t pinpoint her actual connection. To do this, I studied the pedigrees of the British, Danish and Norwegian royal families. The result: Lady Grace Radcliffe. Then I needed to create her counterpart – a woman who could look like her, but be opposite in nature and upbringing. The result: Lee Talbot. Only through their friendship, do they become more like each other as time goes on. With these names and broad character traits, I then started detailed research on their back stories, the men in their lives, and how they would fit into a plot I loosely based on the real “Trudi” mission.

Research in the 1980s was not as easy as it is today. I spent months in the Toronto Main Library photocopying sections of historic books and maps. I read the diaries of Basques who endured the bombing of Guernica. I read William Shirer’s journals about Germany through the 1930s, and Churchill’s memoirs, as well. The more I read, the more the Holocaust haunted me. One day I broke down and wept because I could hear their silent screams.

I interviewed a former Nazi aeronautical engineer who sat on Hitler’s inner circle as a designer of Germany’s first jets. He described Berlin and the effect Kristallnacht had on him in 1938. To trace all the backgrounds and invent the details necessary to build the story for THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR took me ten years before I was ready to start writing my novel. The writing of the novel took another ten years plus two revisions that evolved over the next eight years. As wartime records were released new information surfaced, and I had to change portions of the book because I wanted the details to be as authentic as possible. The traitor’s story, for instance, evolved in greater detail. Britain’s civilian spy agency – SOE – recruited so many homosexuals that this led to the later British scandal of double Soviet agents, such as Anthony Blunt, a confidante of Queen Elizabeth II.

When I was nearly two-thirds finished, two things happened. Both times I awoke at 3 a.m. The first revelation identified the traitor – I believe not knowing kept driving me to write, but then I had to go back through the story and drop hints so the reader wouldn’t be as shocked as I was! The second burst of inspiration led me to write a chapter I have always believed came directly from God. It shows the spiritual charge working in the characters. It was never a part of my outline, and yet it absolutely belongs in the story. I never rewrote it, and I’m convinced it’s the reason why writing this story has always felt like a mission I had to complete. Curiously, no reviewer or reader has ever commented on that chapter. If it was God’s purpose to include it, the reason is entirely His.

Rather than reveal that special chapter, I feel guided to leave it as the private message it seems to be for individual readers.

Award-winning business journalist Bonnie Toews covered the delivery of aid to Rwanda following the genocide in 1994 and observed first-hand why Harry Belafonte, then ambassador for UNICEF, called Canada’s peacekeepers “the best in the world.” Today, Bonnie lends her voice to the Canadian Veterans Advocacy on her Homecoming Vets blog. Her novel THE CONSUMMATE TRAITOR is in its second edition with Whistler House Publishing.

Bonnie has also embarked with her life partner John Christiansen on producing the BIBI &  BABU TRAVEL SERIES. These books are armchair adventures that adults or grandparents can enjoy reading and sharing with their children. Ten percent of the series’ royalties goes to the Kilimanjaro Orphanage Centre in Moshi, Tanzania.

MOTIVATION

This is me a few weeks ago recovering after my op. I'd put in so much effort on my new book before entering hospital that it became a real motivation to get well. Though I have to admit I couldn't have cared less for some time after leaving theatre!

I kept remembering those repeated phrases from the Bible, "And it came to pass." And yes, it did! I am still a
little slow and not allowed to drive, but only a few more weeks and that will pass also.

I have enjoyed my participation in our ICFW blog. I have followed many of our authors' successes and empathized with the struggle we all go through to bring our books into being. Many of you have shared great advice. And I found that so many published authors have felt the need to go the Indy route, thereby bypassing the often year long wait for a contract and another year to get the book published.

With the technical expertise of a friend, I have gone this route and my historical romance is almost there. It was edited professionally, but along the way I discovered many irritating mistakes where I'd added extra information that needed correction.

The book has been formatted, with finished cover, my library number, and bar-code. All we need now is to give it to the printers and await that first copy to check.



Everything can change in a heartbeat ...

Mayfair London, 1859
All is well in the well-to-do Cantrell household until its scheming mistress begins to act on her self-serving plans.
Forced into the security of an arranged marriage and an uncertain future of eloping with her heart's desire, Charlotte Cantrell's faith and integrity are tested to the limit. Either choice threatens dire consequences to everyone she holds dear, and even as she hovers over her decision, she knows that once made it will affect the entire course of her life.

Only an unforeseen event can rescue Charlotte from personal tragedy and forsaken dreams.

I'd be interested to know who of you have had a strong motivation to write after a difficult experience. I know personal experiences - either great or disappointing - have often become a part of my stories.

(For more information on this novel's availability contact:  ritagal  at  optusnet  dot  com  dot au )
www.ritastellagalieh.com